Doug Ford downplays hot mic comments saying he was pleased Trump won

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford was captured on a hot mic saying he was happy Trump won the U.S. election in November of last year, until tariff threats were made.

PC Leader Doug Ford is downplaying some hot mic comments he made to supporters Monday, saying he was pleased when Donald Trump won the U.S. election in November.

“On Election Day, was I happy this guy won? One hundred per cent I was. Then the guy pulled out the knife and F***ing yanked it in us,” Ford told supporters at a campaign stop Monday as the country prepared to respond to U.S. tariffs, which were eventually postponed at the eleventh hour.

It wasn’t clear whether Ford realized the camera was catching his comments.

Ford plunged the province into a snap election last week, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the tariff threats from Trump.

He announced several measures to respond to the tariffs Monday, including pulling U.S. alcohol from LCBO shelves and tearing up a $100 million satellite internet deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink service.

Those measures were put on pause after Trump told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the tariffs would be paused for at least 30 days.

Ford took questions about his hot mic comments Tuesday and was asked why he was happy Trump won when he had been threatening to impose tariffs on Canada during his campaign.

“I always believe in working with anyone,” Ford said during a campaign stop in Ottawa Tuesday. “And yeah – the hot mic – he (trump) makes me swear. Once in a while, I think he makes a lot of people swear in this country.

“So I thought it’d be a little different, a little change, but obviously he decided to pull the knife out and stab us.”

He also said that Trump had support “across the country” when asked why he’d back

him and added that his comments yesterday make perfectly clear how he feels about the U.S. president now.

On Monday, Ford said that while many Canadians might have been excited about the change Trump could bring, he’s been “a disaster” and “so disappointing.”

He also said “I’d never support that guy again, ever.”

Still, other party leaders seized on the hot mic comments Tuesday. The Liberals wasted no time turning them into an attack ad, asking “what else does he say when he thinks you’re not listening” and splicing the footage with various Trump comments on tariffs.

At her own campaign stop Tuesday, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the comments were proof that Ford doesn’t have Ontarians’ best interests at heart.

“What was revealed to us yesterday is that Doug Ford always wanted Donald Trump to win. Now let that sink in for a moment. Donald Trump threatened us, threatened our economy, threatened to impose punitive tariffs that would hurt us, and that’s the guy that Doug Ford wanted to support. That’s simply outrageous,” Crombie said.

She added the comments “show his true character.”

Reporters also asked Ford what role he had in postponing the tariffs, given he’s campaigning on his ability to stand up for Ontario in the face of the tariffs.

“I’m not going to get deep into this. I just can’t,” Ford said. “But I can tell you I think everyone’s seen me, I’m up there working the U.S. media, hitting probably 100 million people.”

He said he’s also been speaking constantly with U.S. senators and business people to get the message out that Canada and the U.S shouldn’t be fighting each other and that a trade war would hurt both sides.

Asked about comments from NDP Leader Marit Stiles that Trump likely doesn’t know who he is, Ford said he has no personal relationship with the president.

In a post on X, Stiles said Ford’s comments show he can’t be trusted.

“Doug Ford keeps making the case for why he’s not the guy for this job. He says one thing to you and another thing behind closed doors,” Stiles wrote. “We can’t trust Ford to get the job done and we certainly can’t trust him to defend Ontario.”